Speaking to reporters in Tehran, Brigadier General Ali Moayyedi, the deputy secretary general of Iran’s Anti-narcotics Campaign Headquarters, said during the first six months of the current Iranian year, over 400 tons of various kinds of illicit drugs have been seized by the polices forces across the country.
The commander added that the drug seizures indicated an 11 percent increase compared to the same period last year.
He also said recently, the Law Enforcement forces in eastern Iran have managed to identify and smash a major drug cartel that has transited huge amounts of illicit drugs and killed a number of police forces.
Iran, which has a 900-kilometer common border with Afghanistan, has been used as the main conduit for smuggling Afghan drugs to narcotics kingpins in Europe.
Despite high economic and human costs, the Islamic Republic has been actively fighting drug-trafficking over the past three decades.
The country has spent more than $700 million on sealing its borders and preventing the transit of narcotics destined for European, Arab and Central Asian countries.
The war on drug trade originating from Afghanistan has claimed the lives of nearly 4,000 Iranian police officers over the past four decades.